Page 52 of Wasted Memories
He hesitated, his lips pressed in a thin line. “I can’t disclose information like that, Wesley. You know I can’t.”
“Can you disclose it to his daughter?”
“If I were speaking with her, yes. But clearly-”
“Emerson was his daughter, East. Her mom told her today.”
A look of confusion passed over his features, but he kept silent.
“Spit it out, East. What is it?”
He shook his head. “We told Ms. Foley days ago that his body was found.”
That didn’t sit right with me, but given the relationship Emerson had with her mother, she may have waited for a reason. I couldn’t think of anygoodreason she would have withheld that information from Emerson for days, but that’s in the past. Emerson knew now, and how she moved on from this is what mattered.
“They said it was frostbite? He got lost on a trail? Aren’t you curious why he was hiking with no phone, no wallet?”
Easton sighed. “People do a lot of things for weird reasons. Maybe he was on some kind of hippy cleansing journey. Maybe he simply forgot his belongings at home. The station doesn’t want to look further into a dead-end case, so they’re closing it and moving on.”
“That’s not fair to the people that were in his life and you know it. They deserve a better answer than what they were given. It’s a little hard to get lost nowadays.” I crossed my arms, trying to remember that Easton was just a cop. He doesn’t necessarily get a say, as much as I wish he could in this situation.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but in my experience, for her sake, try to drop it. Let her mourn and move on. Finding answers that she may not want to find may only hurt her more.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I knew there wasn’t much Easton could do without crossing lines and risking his job. I wasn’t sure if Emerson was content with the answer she was given about his death. She gave no indication that she questioned it, but she did also learn about it only a couple of hours ago.
Behind Easton, I spotted Stella and Emerson walking over with drinks in hand. “Just don’t mention it to her tonight. She needs time to process all of this.”
Easton nodded as Emerson stopped beside me, taking a sip from her umbrella straw. “What are you two talking about?”
“You, of course, darlin’.” He winked at her.
Emerson put her hand on Stella’s shoulder while holding her pineapple drink in her opposite hand. “Easton, this is Stella.”
“Pleased to meet you, Stella.” He grabbed her free hand and brushed his lips across the back of it.
I rolled my eyes. Easton was always one to be a bit on the dramatic side of gentleman-like manners. Stella fluttered her eyelashes at him, so I guess she bought it.
As the two of them got lost in conversation, Emerson offered me a sip of her drink. I tried my best not to cringe at how overly sweet it was. Being a drink from a fair booth, I had to guess there was little to no alcohol in it.
“Can we go on the Ferris Wheel? Please.” She drew out the word as her puppy dog eyes shined up at me.
I looked up at the giant wheel lighting up the sky, slowly turning with every seat filled. I could handle that. How could I say no to Emerson?
“Of course,” I said.
She squealed, grabbing my hand and pulling me in the direction of the ride. We got in line and I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her. She rested her head on my chest and I watched the crowd around us.
Life couldn’t get any better than this moment. Us standing here in this bubble, the rest of the world fading out around us. All our problems washing away for just a few minutes.
After a ten minute wait, we came up to the gate to enter the ride. Emerson handed the ticket guy the two tickets Stella had slipped her. He tore them in half and waved us through.
She tugged me behind her, our hands glued together as we climbed into the metal passenger car. I sat beside her and a man lowered the bar over our laps.
He tugged on the bar to make sure it was secure, and less than a second later, we were moving. It felt alotfaster than how it looked from below.
My stomach bottomed out as it suddenly stopped, the people behind us exiting their seats and the man urging a young couple forward.
After a few more carts were emptied then loaded, we were finally moving at a continuous speed. I admired the view and how the lights reflected off the ocean. It was the perfect night.
